For Sale. College Football Stadium on Old Airstrip

[upstater]

Bingo.

One of the biggest problems with our current situation is that (with for a stadium the size of ours) a football game is an all day event (if you live close enough, it would be a nearly all day event). A very large part of our attendees see it as something that should be only a slighter longer time investment than a basketball game in Hartford. The number of hours the parking lots are open do not help this as it would be far easier for our ticket holders to make this an all day event if they could begin their tailgating (as many other schools allow) a couple of hours earlier than we are allowed and to remain after the game a few hours longer than the Rent currently permits.

If we do become as large as many of us aspire to (needing a stadium nearly double the Rent's current capacity, regardless of where this venue is located), a contingent ~ 150% the size of the current ticket holders will need to view it as an even longer all day event (there are lots at WVU that start receiving tailgaters at 5:00 am for noon kickoffs, allowing those willing to hit the road very early in the morning the benefit of avoiding at least some of the traffic) while the remaing continget (~ 50% of what we currently have) would need to view it aas more than a one day event (this would requre RV lots that allow two or three day utilization and better hotel presence in the vicinity of the stadium).

Under the right conditions I would have no issues with an on-campus, 70K+ seat stadium (which ideally should be our ultimate goal, for when our football program approaches the level of relevance our basketball programs have reached) but we are a generation (if not more) from being in a position where this would make any sense. We would need to have ~ 20k people (I would be one of them) willing to take Fridays off to drive up to Storrs for the weekend to attend a saturday game. We would need another ~25K willing to depart between 2:00 am - 3:00 am to get to their parking lots before too much traffic hit and the remaining ~ 20k (other seats filled by students & visitors) willing and able to depart ~5:00 am - 6:00 am (depending on their distance from campus) and endure the heavy traffic in order to get to the game with enough time for a small tailgate before kickoff and a larger one afterwards. Today, a situation such as this would cost us about half of those who attend games in East Hartford as too many would view what they get out of the time investment as being not worth the effort.

I agree with most of this but would point out where Connecticut has an advantage. People in PA and other states need to drive 3.5 hours for a PSU game, so they do need to take Friday off to enjoy the night's festivities. But in Connecticut, you can arrive at 8 pm and still get dinner and drinks. You don't need to leave work. Also, with an on-campus stadium, it's likely that half the student body shows up, and if the projections are for 30-35k undergrads, you'll have 15-17k students in the stands.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I agree with most of this but would point out where Connecticut has an advantage. People in PA and other states need to drive 3.5 hours for a PSU game, so they do need to take Friday off to enjoy the night's festivities. But in Connecticut, you can arrive at 8 pm and still get dinner and drinks. You don't need to leave work. Also, with an on-campus stadium, it's likely that half the student body shows up, and if the projections are for 30-35k undergrads, you'll have 15-17k students in the stands.

I had to drive from Stamford (where I live and work) to Bradley Airport last night to pick my son up (he spent the week off from school with my former in-laws). I left work ~ 3:40 in an attempt to avoid at least a small amount of traffic and and to arrive a bit early (they were scheduled to land @ 6:35). I-95 was a parking lot through Milford (where i crossed over to the parkway) and the parkway was worse (for the record, the radio claimed that the worst traffic was approaching New Haven, which was why I decided to switch over when I had the opportunity). Save a stretch on I-91 before Hartford traffic and after passing Hartford (in each case I was forced to hit 80 to keep with the traffic flow and a few cars passed me (while 8 was doing 80) as if I were standing still.


I spent ~ 65% of the drive (distance wise, time wise closer to 90%) in second gear and barely made it in three hours. If I were to leave for Storrs on a Friday from down here it would either be timed so I was past Hartford by 3:00 pm or I wouldn't consider departing until at least 8:00 pm (hoping the traffic has died down enough that it would not be an issue.

 

[upstater]

I had to drive from Stamford (where I live and work) to Bradley Airport last night to pick my son up (he spent the week off from school with my former in-laws). I left work ~ 3:40 in an attempt to avoid at least a small amount of traffic and and to arrive a bit early (they were scheduled to land @ 6:35). I-95 was a parking lot through Milford (where i crossed over to the parkway) and the parkway was worse (for the record, the radio claimed that the worst traffic was approaching New Haven, which was why I decided to switch over when I had the opportunity). Save a stretch on I-91 before Hartford traffic and after passing Hartford (in each case I was forced to hit 80 to keep with the traffic flow and a few cars passed me (while 8 was doing 80) as if I were standing still.


I spent ~ 65% of the drive (distance wise, time wise closer to 90%) in second gear and barely made it in three hours. If I were to leave for Storrs on a Friday from down here it would either be timed so I was past Hartford by 3:00 pm or I wouldn't consider departing until at least 8:00 pm (hoping the traffic has died down enough that it would not be an issue.

I admit, much of my experience in Ct. is colored from living off Rt. 80 and exit 8, so driving north was never a problem until Hartford.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Once you are beyond New Haven the only real issue is approaching Hartford (unfortunately entering Hartford from any direction is normally a log jam). Getting from lower Fairfield county to New Haven however can be a nightmare.

 

[pj]

The over-arching point is that UConn should be planning for an on campus stadium, now, even if the stadium isn't built for 30 years.

The Rent won't be new forever. UConn has the land. Lots of land. It's the Land of Land up there. Infrastructure to accommodate 8-10 events a years is not insurmountable, to suggest otherwise is like saying that we have forgotten how to build roads and bridges.

I don't think people realize that a football game at major schools is, as has been mentioned, an all day event. Tailgating, pre game, post game. It's an entire day commitment. Now it's one thing to say that the appetite for that type of commitment is not supported by the populace and hence it's silly to plan UConn football around that premise, but it's another to just say, "sitting in traffic is a deal breaker." And there is no better game day experience than at stadium where soon to be 24,000 undergrads can walk to. Atmosphere is huge at these types of events.

Minnesota was forced to build an on-campus stadium by the Big Ten.

Colorado State is moving to an on-campus stadium.

UNLV is planning to build an on-campus stadium.

Having a stadium in East Hartford that is owned by the state is not in UConn's best interest. The State of Connecticut has now gotten 10 years of rent from UConn, and conservatively, will get at least 5 years more. At what point has UConn fulfilled its commitment to the state of Connecticut?

Look at a school like Arkansas. It ;plays some games in Little Rock. There is no reason that UConn can't do something similar.

This is right. A good first step would be building a highway to campus.

At $5 mn per lane-mile (and it can be done for half that in rural areas if you're not choosy about which land you take), a 7-mile I-84 to north campus 4-lane highway would cost $140 mn and a 10-mile I-384 to southwest campus extension would be $200 mn.

That would do a lot to make the campus feel more accessible to the rest of the state; and also to get a biotech industry to build near campus.

Acquire a large plot of land near the terminus of whatever freeway is built and set it aside for future stadiums.

 

[whaler11]

You have to live or work in lower Fairfield County to understand what a grind it is every day. I lived in Fairfield and worked in Westport/Norwalk and after 5 years I was ready to lose my mind.

Hartford is nothing compared to the Merritt and 95 from Milford southwest.

 

[RS9999X]

Route 8N to the end then 44E to 318 to 219 to 20 to Bradley.

Sent from my Lumia 920 via Windows 8. Now bite me Apple Droids.

 

[Husky25]

I know that Global Spectrum is working on the AHL affiliation contract right now, but instead of these crazy ideas (selling the Rent or downgrading the football team) concocted by someone on a self imposed BY blackout and a hypocrite, respectively, how about we figure out what GS has in store to improve the Rent an thereby improving the game day experience.

Let’s face it, there is a better chance (times infinity) of the current stadium being expanded and further development of the lot than there is of an on campus stadium seating 60K+ (Which is not enough, by the way). There is too much red tape and bureaucracy to wade through with the affected municipalities on the way to Storrs (let alone at the State House). A new structure will most assuredly cost more than the 2002 price tag of $91 Million, which sets the state up for a MONSTER BATH on any sale. Book value of the current structure alone is just under $68 Million ($91Million - $91M/39 years*10 yrs), not including property taxes, or yearly maintenance costs. The state is considering reintroducing toll roads to close a budget deficit approaching $1/2 billion and people are getting behind a stadium sale only to build another, infinitely more expensive one (plus infrastructure) in quite possibly the most NIMBY towns in New England? If it does happen, I am betting that it won't be in my lifetime.

It doesn't surprise me so much that this topic was brought up. However it is quite surprising that it was taken seriously enough to elicit 7 pages and 128 responses...so far.

 

[upstater]

New York and Connecticut are so beholden to the ups and downs of international finance that one never knows what the future holds. You'd think after 2007-08 that the rest of the world would have learned a lesson and stopped recycling its surpluses through the tri-state area, but instead we see jaw-dropping ineptitude everywhere. The euro is about to unravel. The Chinese are experiencing huge growing pains. If the world economy gets back on its feet, it's likely that those surpluses are going to get rerouted to New York and to a lesser degree Connecticut once again. The tax pains the state is experiencing now in a huge recession may disappear practically overnight. I don't feel so sanguine about the rest of the country, but NY and Conn. may very well recover quickly.